AI IS MOVING THE NEEDLE
FOR COMPANIES IN THE US,
THE UK, FRANCE, AND GERMANY.
O1
OVERVIEW
Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be on everyone’s mind. It
powers natural language recognition within voice-powered
assistants like Siri and Alexa, beats world-class Go players
(Google AlphaGo), and enables hyper-targeted e-commerce
and content recommendations across the web, as we see
with Amazon and Netflix. But recently, AI has begun actively
expanding its footprint within the enterprise. Executives are
trying to more fully comprehend what AI is and how they
can use it to better capitalize on business opportunities by
gaining insights into their data and engaging with customers
more productively, thereby honing a competitive edge. AI
is the frontier of enterprise technology, but there remains
many misperceptions about what it is and how it works.
Part of the confusion stems from the fact that AI is an umbrella
term that covers a range of technologies — including machine
learning, computer vision, natural language processing,
deep learning, and others — that are in various stages of
development and deployment. The use of AI for dynamic
market-based pricing and targeted marketing has been
spreading through corporations for a while, but actual AI
computing where machines think like humans is still years
in the future. The various possibilities prompt a range of
reactions from people who understand AI’s disruptive potential.
As a field, artificial intelligence encompasses three distinct
areas of research and practice:
1
Artificial superintelligence is the type popularized in
speculative fiction and in movies such as The Matrix.
The goal of this type of research is to produce computers
that are superior to humans in virtually every way,
possessing what author and analyst William Bryk referred
to as “perfect memory and unlimited analytical power.”
2
Artificial general intelligence refers to a machine that
is as intelligent as a human and equally capable of
solving the broad range of problems that require learning
and reasoning.
3
Artificial narrow intelligence exploits a computer’s
superior ability to process vast quantities of data and
detect patterns and relationships that would otherwise
be difficult or impossible for a human to detect.
The research covered in this report focused on artificial
narrow intelligence (referred to herein simply as AI) that is
being targeted for specific business cases in the enterprise.
AI IN THE ENTERPRISE: THE AI RACE IS ON
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So, is enterprise AI just an over-exposed and under-delivering
concept about to fall off a cliff and into Gartner’s Hype Cycle
Trough of Disillusionment? Or is it the holy grail of business
innovation that will leave companies without it in the dust
of tech transformation? In an attempt to answer these
questions, we commissioned a survey of over 650 IT decision
makers at large enterprises working across industries in the
U.S., the U.K., Germany, and France, ranging from directors
to C-level executives, to gauge their pulse. We asked a host
of questions to find out if and how enterprises are using AI,
what their future plans are, and what they think the impact
of AI will really be on their organization, among other things.
Here are five key findings:
1
For Security Teams, AI Is Moving the Needle: The
survey found that 77% say they have prevented more
breaches following their use of AI-powered tools, and
81% say AI was detecting threats before their security
teams could.
2
Organizations Are Already Investing in AI, and
This Will Only Increase: Nearly all of the IT decision
makers surveyed said they are either currently spending
on AI-powered solutions, or planning to invest in them in
the next two years. 60% already have AI in place.
3
AI Is Seen As a Competitive Advantage: 87% of IT
decision makers see AI-powered technology as a
competitive advantage for their IT departments, and 83%
are investing specifically in AI to beat competitors.
4
AI Is Living Up To Its Promises: Despite the fact that
76% of respondents are concerned that marketing
hype will make it difficult to vet AI-powered tech, 86%
say the AI they’ve used has lived up to its promises.
Furthermore, 64% of IT decision makers expect to see ROI
from their investments in AI in fewer than two years.
5
Concerns Linger, but AI Opportunities Abound:
68% of IT decision makers say AI will make certain
jobs obsolete, and 74% are concerned AI technology will
replace human jobs. But, 93% say it will create new job
opportunities, and 80% believe AI will lead them to hire
new workers and retrain existing employees.
O2
THE IMPACT OF AI
IN THE ENTERPRISE
It appears we’ve finally reached a point where AI is shifting
from talk to action as companies have begun investing in AI
in order to make better use of all the data they’re gathering
and the increased computing power to which they have
access. According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute
Report, AI entrepreneurial investments were between $26
billion and $39 billion in 2016, a three-fold increase over
the previous three years. IDC predicts enterprise spending
on AI and cognitive computing will rise this year by nearly
60% to $12.5 billion, and then grow to $46 billion by 2020.
Granted, most investment in AI comes from big players
like Google, Amazon, and other big tech firms, but the AI
spending fever is spreading. AI is being used to forecast
electricity demand at utilities, to train vehicles to become
chauffeurs and truck drivers, and to power robots that box
up our Amazon orders. Netflix, for example, says the AI
algorithm behind its search and recommendations engine
has saved it from losing $1 billion each year due to canceled
subscriptions. According to the McKinsey report, early adopters
tend to be tech, telecoms, and financial services firms that
deploy AI across technology groups and as a core part of
their business, all with the support of executive leadership.
“60% of IT decision makers surveyed say they
already have AI-powered solutions in place.”
AI IN THE ENTERPRISE: THE AI RACE IS ON
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